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May 29, 2007

G51: Red Sox 4, Cleveland 2

The lay-off didn't bother Josh Beckett at all. He faced the minimum 18 hitters through the first six innings, allowing only one hit (Jhonny Peralta in the 1st) and one walk (Peralta in the 4th).

He gave up two runs in the seventh on a one-out single to Peralta (again!), a triple to Travis Hafner that eluded JD Drew in the right field corner, and an infield grounder. Those runs cut the Boston lead from 4-0 to 4-2. Brendan Donnelly, Javier Lopez and Hideki Okajima finished it off. (box)

Kevin Youkilis doubled in Julio Lugo in the first inning (21 game hitting streak), then hit a solo home run to begin the home sixth (9th consecutive multi-hit game). Jason Varitek also homered.

In Toronto, the Yankees lost 3-2, as the Blue Jays got one of their runs on a straight steal of home by Aaron Hill (only the second occurrence in Blue Jays history). Toronto scored in the first inning and the game stayed 1-0 until the seventh. The Yankees tied it in the top half, but Toronto went ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the inning. New York tied it again at 2-2 in the top of the eighth, but the Jays scored in the bottom of the eighth to retake the lead. The Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the 9th. ... New York is now 14.5 GB.

The Red Sox's 35-15 start ties the 1986 team for the second best in club history.

On June 3, 1986, the Red Sox were 35-15 and led the Yankees by 4.5 games. ... Fifty games into the 1946 season -- June 11 -- the Red Sox were 41-9 and led the Yankees by 10 games.

Manny Delcarmen, who pitched only one inning since being called up on May 21, was optioned to Pawtucket to make room for Beckett.

Redsox.com:

After beginning the season 0-4 with a 7.13 ERA in his first eight starts, Sowers had his best start of the year on Thursday against the Royals. He went seven strong innings and allowed one run on six hits -- all of them singles -- while walking one and striking out one.

36 comments:

After beginning the season 0-4 with a 7.13 ERA in his first eight starts, Sowers had his best start of the year on Thursday AGAINST THE ROYALS. He went seven strong innings and allowed one run on six hits -- all of them singles -- while walking one and striking out one.

Emphasis might be from me.

I'm there with my girlfriend tonight, the Indians fan. It should be interesting. I have a seat in GS 32, and she has a seat in GS 3, so we'll probably end up standing together behind the plate. So if you see a 5'10 woman with an Indians cap strangling a tall irish kid with a Nixon shirt on, that'll be us.

She looks a good deal like Amalie Benjamin (the Tina Fey Prototype, aka the indie kid's dream), so I'm pretty happy with life right now.

I could not help think of the "body language" comment of Joe Torre's earlier today. Watching Beckett induce a pop-up to end the 2nd, you have Pedroia, Lugo and Crisp converging. Crisp calls it, and the other two guys turn around and start jogging back to the dugout before it lands in Crisp's glove. It wasn't a tough play, but the fact that they have this confidence says something. If you're the Yankees right now, maybe the two infielders are anxiously watching him catch it, y'know?

Those two also reached on consecutive errors in the eighth, leading to the tying run on a bloop hit. In the past, this was the key to another cheap Yankee win. In '07, the Jays just got the run right back and shut 'em down in the ninth.

Hafner hit a ball to shallow CF. Crisp jogged in with his hands down as though the ball would fall. Peralta was running on the pitch. Coco then made a basket catch at his waist (gutsy move) and easily doubled Peralta off first. Duoble Paly.